The task was not an easy one; for Captain T---- of the Indian Army was then in Shiraz, buying on behalf of the Government; and everything in the shape of a mule that could stand was first brought for his inspection.

By good luck, however, I managed to get together half a dozen sorry-looking beasts; but they suited the purpose well enough.

The price of these animals varies very much in Persia.

They can be bought for as little as L4, while the best fetch as much as L60 to L80.
Those were pleasant days at Shiraz.

One never tired of wandering about the outskirts of the city and through the quiet, shady gardens and "cities of the silent," as the Persians call their cemeteries; for, when the solemn stillness of the latter threatened to become depressing, there was always the green plain, alive from morning till night with movement and colour, to go back to.